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skipThings posted:Ducks are terrible monsters who rape and pillage, also geese and swans, murderous fuckers So I guess we should start eating dolphins, orcas and chimps? Might be interesting.
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Nov 27, 2014 20:18
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Flavahbeast posted:I don't see anti-Russian sentiment lasting any longer than the conflict with Ukraine, if things cool down there relations will probably normalize It depends on individual countries. In many of former Eastern Block countries relations with Russia have never been normalized - the conflict over the role of Russia in foreign relations was just allowed to simmer under the surface because the perpetually economically depressed Russia wasn't particularly important to most people. So right now you see the fundamental conflicts coming to head, it's not just a short-term phase.
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Nov 29, 2014 00:35
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Baudolino posted:It is totally insane to wish for the Russian economy to crash. Putin is nothing compared to the angry and vengeful men who would end up in power should the economcy crash once again. It would create the perfect storm of political an economic chaos that the Russian fascists have been waiting for. Russia as it is today may not be a pretty sigth, but for the forseeable future it is the very best anyone could realistically hope for. If you poke the (sickly) bear you gonna get bit. Gonna get bit? Short of literally unleashing their nuclear arsenal in a suicidal gently caress you to the world, there is nothing the Russians can do that wouldn't also end up with them losing.
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Nov 29, 2014 00:58
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But think of all the sparkling new Starbucks that will fit into those empty hospitals! And the jobs they will create.
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Nov 30, 2014 15:11
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In somewhat military related news: The Czech republic has suffered a series of munitions storage explosions in the past two months. The government is currently saying that there's an unknown culprit responsible for the damage (which has killed two people and destroyed thousands of tons of artillery ammo) since it would be impossible for the storage to explode on its own. Video of the storage exploding two weeks after the initial detonation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NtoLg46m2k OTOH, it's in no way comparable to the hilarious nuclear attack simulated by a satirist group few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea4eft_3p-I
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Dec 13, 2014 01:29
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I guess it's kinda satisfying to watch the Russian economy come crushing down, but sadly the fact remains it will kill a lot of people.  Remember the news of the Moscow hospital system undergoing a reorganization? In the middle of a crisis? What is the chance of a complete failure.
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Dec 16, 2014 02:53
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kalstrams posted:Don't worry, hospital system reorganisation is complete garbage meant only and only to cut costs, and it essentially did both start and finish before the rouble's fall escalated, since great reorganisation was basically "close 28 hospitals, pay new specialists 4k roubles per month, fire bunch of young specialists." Well, it was just an example. With services in general in the gutter, I fear the worst for the Russian working class.
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Dec 16, 2014 10:27
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ukle posted:Now past the 79 mark, 80 mark will be broken soon. 81. I went to drink coffee and there was a 8 ruble jump in that period? Insane 
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Dec 16, 2014 13:38
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By the way, has Yanuk made himself known in the past few months?
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Dec 17, 2014 16:47
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fatherboxx posted:Microphone lady trying too hard would?
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Dec 19, 2014 00:45
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The theory of CIA manipulating the Maidan comes from two sources: The ambassador handing out biscuits and other treats to protesters: http://sputniknews.com/voiceofrussia/news/2013_12_11/US-s-Nuland-treating-Ukrainian-protesters-to-cookies-on-Maidan-1129/ And on a number of phone calls within the State Department which speculated about who to support and about the role of Europe and Russia in the development in Ukraine. As far as I know, however, the leaked calls never went beyond discoussions of how to react in case of the victory of a particular faction in Ukr. politics; which is what the State Department is supposed to do, and not a conspiracy. But try to explain it to somebody who has already made up their mind. Example: http://www.rferl.org/content/nuland-russia-eu-ukraine-reaction/25256828.html
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Dec 19, 2014 01:23
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StandardVC10 posted:The CIA doesn't do subtle very well. If they were behind Euromaidan, Yanukovych would have turned dead up on a couch with a gun in his mouth. Alternatively the CIA would have published a public report on how it needs xxx million USD in funding to somewhat inconvenience Yanukovich.
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Dec 19, 2014 01:34
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chitoryu12 posted:Have the 7 guys in the cabinet been replaced? Svoboda only ever held 3 positions in the government, and three gubernatorial offices. All of these high ranking representatives resigned following the parliamentary elections, in which Svoboda gained less than 0.3% of votes, and today they are by no means relevant.
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Dec 19, 2014 02:34
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Baracula posted:Retarded dogs also The Afghan hound is a noble and elegant breed, thank you very much.
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Dec 20, 2014 23:38
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Eigenstate, your post is correct only assuming that most Russians believe that their armed forces are directly involved in Ukraine. I don't think that's correct. If they aren't Putin can pull out, albeit probably only gradually and making sure that there's nobody left behind on the insurgents' side who could post dirt on him, proving Russian involvement.
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Dec 21, 2014 00:06
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Cingulate posted:Probably not, he was completely wrong about what motivates people in hilarious ways. Fascism loves family and tradition. Connected to that is a belief in strictly separated male and female roles. Gays break all of these preconceptions.
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Dec 21, 2014 19:12
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Discendo Vox posted:I believe that the foreign reserves most available to Russia are actually under the heading "foreign exchange", meaning the pertinent value for 11/2014 is $361,409 million. I think you wrote million instead of billion. (Edit: disregard, I got confused by the decimal point vs decimal comma difference) Anyway, even if they had to spend the maximum recorded daily amount (cca 2 billion) on a regular basis they coul prop up the ruble for a rather long time. The question is what has longer legs - the Russian National Bank, or OPEC and gas prices.
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Dec 22, 2014 00:32
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Lichtenstein posted:It's a tank put on a pedestal as a war memorial. Not really a particular one, there's a lot of these in Eastern Europe, especially in smaller towns that ain't keen on blowing their budgets on actual statues. AFAIK those tanks would often be particular ones. For instance one of the pictured memorials is in Ulaanbatar and displays a tank of a Mongolian regiment, and the pedestal is engraved with its history. Though sometimes they would just pretend that the tank had relation to the place where they erected the memorial (for example in Prague they used a random IS-2 with changed unit markings to represent the first Red Army tank to have entered the city, which was a T-34).
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Dec 22, 2014 12:10
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Mightypeon posted:Georgians perhaps? Maybe Czechs? Habsburg were pretty tame compared to a lot of other alternatives, and despite the two Soviet coups there, repression was still less then in Poland, but a bit more then in East Germany. I would say Czechs over Hungarians because Ottoman rule was iirc a lot less pleaseant for Hungarians then HRE rule was for Czechs, even if the Hungarians got a considerably better position after the Ausgleich. As much as it pains me to give up the oppression card (well, not really), I must agree that Czechs are historically the probable answer. From the 10th century on, Bohemia was more independent on Imperial authority than any other HRE state, and once the rulers of Bohemia were given special privileges connected to imperial elections and application of imperial law, nobody dared to break the Kingdom apart as it was key to gaining political leverage in the Empire. If anything, other powers fought over the right to claim the throne, and even the Habsburgs protected the integrity of Bohemia and her royal title as their main tool for ensuring Imperial dominance. So in the end, despite lacking sovereignty for three centuries after 1620, the Czechs milked their unique position and unlike other minor nationalities in the region maintained a tradition of statehood and national identity, and enjoyed life within remarkably stable borders, while having a good deal of power in Imperial politics. Only in the 20th century did our fortune reverse with successive totalitarian regimes.
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Dec 26, 2014 23:37
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Libluini posted:The Jewish communities in the Czech Republic apparently really don't want to see Putin at the Auschwitz commemoration this year. They called him "The embodiment of an agressive regime which disregards international agreements and violently occupies territory of a neighbouring country." Ouch. The thing is, the Jewish community itself is divided. The European Jewish Congress originally asked the Czech president to invite Putin to the memorial; however, not everybody is friendly with the Congress (there is apparently an ongoing tension between the European C. and the World Congress), but at the same time the Congress is organizing the whole event so it makes sense they would be in charge of selecting guests. Also the Czech Jewish representatives have issued contradictory statements - Karol Sidon, the head rabbi of the country, is against the event taking place at Terezín / Theresienstadt regardless of whether Putin will be there or not, his deputy on the other hand has defended Putin's right to attend. The issue is further charged by the fact that the E. C. president, Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, is allegedly Putin's close ally, so anything he does carries unpleasant political connotations.
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Jan 2, 2015 13:31
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Russia's involvement is mostly just "Yes, we'll take your money in exchange for weapons, thank you", no? With diplomatic efforts aimed mostly at legitimizing this relationship. Seems generally smart to me.
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Jan 2, 2015 17:25
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Making a map on a per-country basis is beyond useless. Quality of water depends on source and associated infrastructure, of course, and will necessarily differ greatly form town to town. For instance, tap water in Prague has been consistently rated above most bottled water, while in many villages just outside the city it's only fit for utility applications without treatment.
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Jan 4, 2015 01:13
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"I had to stand in line for five hours, but I could disappear from work for six hours, and steal me some inventory on the way."
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Jan 4, 2015 21:55
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So what I get from this is that the East Germans were better off than the English, and the East Germans in the 1980s were better off than the East Germans of today. Dunno if I should cry or laugh.
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Jan 5, 2015 16:00
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Let me tell you about the things I would do to your mother... Young Freud posted:I'm not sure what's funnier, the look on the kid's face or how the rest of the crowd no longer acknowledges him. It would be creepier if they actually felt forced to stare at Putin throughout the whole mass.
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Jan 7, 2015 21:17
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I do kind of understand the sentiment that foreigners are "stealing our children". Honestly I'm puzzled that there seems to be very little controversy about the trend of adoptions from Third world countries in general, which are more often than not a way to exploit economic destitution rather than an attempt to relieve it. http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2009/01/08/the-lie-we-love/
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Jan 9, 2015 11:25
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Umiapik posted:Britain isn't much better off: these days, we've only got 8 operational squadrons of fighters (soon to be reduced to 7!), the Royal Navy has declined to a pitiful 19 (yes, one-nine) fighting ships and we're retaining a token army of 80,000ish men, the smallest since the end of the Napoleonic wars 200 years ago. It all looks a bit weedy and ineffective when set against Russia's enormous and well-funded armed forces of 1,000,000+. I'm fairly sceptical about the well-funded and well-trained nature of a conscript army fielded by a developing country, no matter how huge it may appear on paper. E: I mean, the Russian navy, to use the branch of military you focus on, is a combination of rusting wrecks and ships sold to India / China.
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Feb 8, 2015 22:13
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So, what's the chance that the Russians are mixing "legitimate" aid with military supplies to protect themselves from attacks? I.e. what's the chance there'll be evidence of destroyed humanitarian property in response to this attack, justifying Russia's condemnation of Ukraine's government and giving them a new venue of deflecting criticism.
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Feb 8, 2015 23:54
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Slashrat posted:Humanitarian aid generally doesn't get mistaken for a tactical nuke when it gets blown up. But if you have some trucks with food and blankets parked next to your artillery ammo dump, hypothetically, it doesn't matter.
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Feb 9, 2015 00:12
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Sulla-Marius 88 posted:So that's what it boils down to. You think for the average person that death or constant war is preferable to living in a Russian-controlled state. We should just dissolve all states and divide them between China and America as colonial dominions, that way people won't have to live in fear of conflicts, and will enjoy the perks of stability, even if they come at the cost of imperial rule.
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Feb 9, 2015 11:40
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TildeATH posted:Even Airplane couldn't spell it with a 'y' or people would have just rolled their eyes right out of their sockets. That just tells you how goofy "Stryker" is, and that's coming from a military that named a fighter jet after a popular dinosaur/Canadian basketball mascot. This is from a bit back, but Stryker is named after two actual highly decorated soldiers with that surname. Anyway, yesterday there was a big first hand report about the civilians in Mariupol. What I found most striking is that information about what's going on in the wider context of the conflict is apparently very difficult to come by in the most affected areas, and people have tragically inaccurate expectations, fuelled more by wishful thinking than by facts. Several people told the journalist that because of the Minsk negotiations there would soon be an end to the hostilities because "when they are done talking German soldiers will come and protect us".
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Feb 10, 2015 09:37
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DOCTOR ZIMBARDO posted:National determination, freedom from aggression, all these issues were at play in 1915 as well. The situation is no different, however, because there is fundamentally no difference from the West and the Russians - no more than in 1915. Just window-dressing. There's also no fundamental difference between Putin and you, ideological rigidity and essentialist epistemological imperialism are no less damaging than the false pretenses of the IR realism.
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Feb 10, 2015 21:34
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DOCTOR ZIMBARDO posted:That era ended in 1991. Bipolar stability stops working when you knock down the other pole. And I'm very skeptical to what extent you really think the world order has stopped unilateral aggression, especially since 1991, but even before. Putin is forcing a war on Ukraine because of the reality in which he imagines himself. Revolutionary Marxists similarly have a hard on for pushing countries / peoples into war for reasons that effectively only make sense within their epistemological communities.
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Feb 10, 2015 21:46
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DOCTOR ZIMBARDO posted:And yet in this case I'm the one saying that Western populations should resist their governments sending arms or otherwise escalating the ongoing tragedy in Ukraine, in the face of people calling for blood and iron. You are advocating that a very real struggle of the people of Ukraine should be abandoned because only a hypothetical class struggle is a legitimate form of violence.
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Feb 10, 2015 22:16
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Nintendo Kid posted:Population density is utterly irrelevant to how much fuel you need, in fact higher density means you can use less fuel per person due to being able to efficiently utilize mass heating schemes, even merely on the per-building level. But fracking is a land-intensive process with frequent unintended consequences for outlyng population centres. Not that it matters because AFAIK fracking isn't a viable option in Germany.
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Feb 10, 2015 23:18
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ganglysumbia posted:I do not know the viability of any shale in Germany that is cost effective to produce, but everything else you said is simply not true. Regardless of the land formally used by drilling facilities, the area affected by emissions and land degradation seems to be very wide and difficult to control. Not to mention indirect effects of introducing intense resource extraction activity into settled areas. http://concernedhealthny.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/CHPNY-Fracking-Compendium.pdf steinrokkan fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Feb 10, 2015 |
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Feb 10, 2015 23:42
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Killer-of-Lawyers posted:Better not frack next to population centers like they do in the US! That'd be bad for the environment! We can't risk having another Fukushima, this time in Europe! Aka we can't risk a basically impossible to happen (in Europe) accident with very limited tangible windfall.
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Feb 10, 2015 23:55
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It seems strange to hold the most successful European country as some sort of n-l hellhole.
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Feb 11, 2015 00:17
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A Buttery Pastry posted:German neoliberalism is a bigger drag on the rest of the EU than Germany, so of course Germany would look comparatively successful. That's ignoring the problem of tying themselves to Russia, and having no stomach for assuming the position of (actual long-term) leadership which Europe wants it to take. And which, to bring this back to Eastern Europe, has allowed the influence of Russian-backed parties to flourish in Europe, which is in the interest of no one but Putin. Yeah, I don't see it. Greece's blatant decades of unprecedented fraud and cronyism, for instance, is a drag on Europe's economy. Wanting them to stop that isn't.
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Feb 11, 2015 08:43
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Panzeh posted:Well, Germany's philosophy is "Socialism for us, neoliberalism for everyone else." It must be nice to have a convenient bogeyman to blame for everything.
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Feb 11, 2015 11:38
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